What is in this article?:

How one organization gets the bandwidth its meeting attendees demand by offsetting fees through innovative sponsorship opportunities.

“People want Wi-Fi, especially free Wi-Fi, wherever they can get it,” says Larry Collins, executive director at North American Christian Convention. “It’s just a part of our lives.” That’s why he makes sure that the 8,000 attendees at his annual meeting, Victorious, can access it—for free.

“It’s just something that has to happen,” says Collins. It needs to be available and free to attendees, he says—even if it’s not free for the organization.

At each annual conference, including this summer’s NACC event, July 9–12 in Louisville, NACC offers free Wi-Fi in an area called The Hub, located at the entrance to the exhibit hall. It’s a large area where attendees can congregate, network, and access the Internet from their mobile devices or at a bank of computers. Wi-Fi access is free with a password provided by NACC that changes each day; users are asked to log in again if they’re on longer than 40 minutes at a time in case they inadvertently leave it on and use the bandwidth. Exhibitors must pay for their own hardwire Internet access at their booths if they choose to have it, but they can also use the free Wi-Fi while in The Hub.